1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a custom pricing system and method. Specifically, the invention calculates a custom die price based on designated parameters and a calculated complexity factor. The invention can further calculate a chip price based on the custom die price and other factors, such as packaging and quantity.
2. Background Art
In the production of electronic devices, chips are often required. In general, a chip can be defined by a die and a package. The die includes the parameters required to build a functional chip, while the package includes parameters defining how the chip interacts with its environment. While many types of standard dies and packaging can be offered by a chip manufacturer, customers frequently need a custom chip and/or packaging for certain applications. As a result, manufacturers frequently provide customers with the ability to order a chip that has one or more parameters that differ from their standard chips.
For many applications, several configurations of dies and packages can solve a particular challenge or situation. In determining the appropriate die and/or package configuration, customers generally seek to minimize the cost of obtaining the die and/or package. Therefore, a customer may make several price inquiries with different die configurations and/or different packaging options to the manufacturer. Frequently, the customer will seek to quickly resolve this process so that manufacturing and further design can move forward.
From a manufacturer's perspective, accurate pricing is critical in being able to profitably manufacture custom chips. To do this, the manufacturer must accurately anticipate the costs of manufacturing the chips and factor in a desired profit to arrive at a final price. A manufacturer that over-estimates costs can lose business to other manufacturers. Conversely, a manufacturer that under-estimates costs may lose their profit for a particular custom job. Additionally, the manufacturer generally seeks to minimize the time required for a customer to place an order while simultaneously minimizing the burden on its own operations. This allows for faster orders at less cost, and more satisfied customers. Consequently, accurate and timely pricing for different custom dies with or without custom packaging is important from both the customer and manufacturer perspectives.
Currently, the process used to obtain the desired pricing is inefficient and confusing for the customer. For example, a manufacturer may provide a customer with a spreadsheet price guide. The price guide may contain entries for various solutions, including custom die options with packaging options. The customer can then look up a solution and determine its cost. However, if the customer desires to slightly modify a solution, he/she is frequently required to obtain a custom quote from the manufacturer. The customer may make many inquiries for custom quotes before determining a satisfactory price/performance trade off for the solution. Because of the lack of customer knowledge, the quote may be unsatisfactory and cause frustration for the customer. As a result, the customer may waste design resources, become dissatisfied with the manufacturer and/or seek other vendors. The process can further frustrate the customer when a desired packaging option has not been determined, but a quotation for a custom die is desired. From the manufacturer's perspective, an engineer is frequently required to analyze the custom solutions provided by the customer and generate the custom quotations. This process can be time consuming and also inefficiently uses the employee's skills.